A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Innovative Biosensors (Rockville, Maryland) and ProGenTech (Emeryville, California) reported an agreement to jointly develop a rapid, integrated diagnostic system.

The system will incorporate Innovative Biosensor's Cellular Analysis and Notification of Antigen Risks and Yields (CANARY) technology, a cell-based approach for quickly detecting various pathogens, into a modified version of ProGenTech's Entura Lite platform with integrated optical detection capabilities.

Innovative Biosensors will commercialize the developed product. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Joe Hernandez, president/CEO of Innovative Biosensors, said, "We believe that having more rapid, highly sensitive assays and fully integrated systems is of immense value to the clinical diagnostic market. The combinations of our two technologies will achieve this panacea. We look forward to working with ProGenTech in revolutionizing this very important market."

Trevor Hawkins, chairman/CEO of ProGenTech, said, "This is a clear validation of the ProGenTech technology and will be yet another avenue for us to create value from our product portfolio and know how. In combination with the groundbreaking Innovative Biosensors technology, this new product will enable radical improvements in diagnosis and treatment."

Innovative Biosensors' cell-based CANARY technology consists of engineered biosensors expressing membrane bound, pathogen specific antibodies and a calcium sensitive bioluminescent molecule.

Cross-linking of the antibodies by even minute amounts of the specific pathogen leads to elevation of intracellular calcium and light emission. The amplified light output can then be detected using a luminometer.

In other agreements/contracts news:

Premier (San Diego) reported that new agreements for physiological monitoring systems have been awarded to GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisconsin); Mindray DS USA (Mahwah, New Jersey); Nihon Kohden America (Foothill Ranch, California); Philips Medical Systems (Andover, Massachusetts); Spacelabs Healthcare (Issaquah, Washington); and Welch Allyn (Skaneateles Falls, New York).

Effective March 1, the 36-month agreements are available to acute-care and continuum-of-care members of the Premier healthcare alliance.

In other agreements contracts news:

• HTG (Tucson, Arizona) and Clinical Reference Laboratory (CRL; Lenexa, Kansas) said that the companies signed a multi-year agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, CRL Global Services will provide CLIA-certified laboratory services for HTG's pharmaceutical, biotech and academic clients.

HTG's quantitative nuclease protection assay (qNPA) is an automated assay that allows researchers to quickly and accurately measure gene expression levels of mRNA and miRNA in cells, blood, saliva and tissues with minimal hands-on time. Using HTG's reagent kits and equipment, CRL Global Services will evaluate samples or sample plates using HTG's qNPA ArrayPlate technology in its laboratory.

• DR Systems (San Diego), makers of the Unity RIS/PACS, reported four new contracts with healthcare facilities totaling roughly $1.53 million. The largest contract was for more than $747,000, with the smallest at about $116,000.

The four facilities include Peninsula Imaging (Salisbury, Maryland); Yankton Medical Clinic (Yankton, South Dakota); Bath Community Hospital (Hot Springs, Virginia); and Barrow Neurosurgical Associates (Phoenix).

At Peninsula Imaging, the new PACS will be interfaced with a McKesson hospital information system (HIS). DR Systems' integrated approach to scheduling, workflow, reporting, and billing is considered an advantage in making the imaging center more competitive in its local market, according to the company.

The DR Systems PACS at Bath Community Hospital will enable this small hospital to have local radiological workflow even as most of its radiological studies are read at the University of Virginia Medical Center (UVA; Charlottesville). Implementation of the PACS will also enable Bath to more easily share images and reports with UVA and other regional partners, DR Systems noted. In particular, the PACS will improve Bath's acute stroke response by giving Bath County residents reliable and timely access to stroke treatment expertise across the Central Shenandoah Valley, the company said.

DR Systems provides enterprise imaging and information management systems for diagnostic imaging centers, hospitals and integrated healthcare networks.

• Xenomics (Monmouth Junction, New Jersey) provided an update on its commercial activities regarding NPM1 testing for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In 2008, the company granted nonexclusive license rights to Laboratory Corporation of America (Burlington, North Carolina) and to InVivoScribe Technologies (San Diego) to offer mutation analysis of NPM1 as a laboratory service for the diagnosis, stratification and monitoring of patients with AML.

The agreements include up-front payments, royalties, and milestone payments to Xenomics and do not encompass tests that may be developed by the company based on its Transrenal nucleic acid technology.